During that period, competitive swimmers wore suits coated in polyurethane, smashing more than 100 world records in the process.
So far, 18 world records have been broken by swimmers wearing suits with fewer panels and seams and more polyurethane than last year's cutting-edge Speedo LZR Racer.
STRANGEST ARTISTIC CHOICE Pandering to a heretofore unnoticed wave of Soviet nostalgia, Australia's synchronized swimmers donned suits with what looks like the facade of the Kremlin and performed to "Back in the U.S.S.R".
Some swimmers prefer suits that only cover their torsos, some men prefer only trunks that extend to their thighs or ankles, and some male and female swimmers are wearing the neck-to-ankle version without sleeves.
A second pool, used by polo players and synchronised swimmers, followed suit.
Since the drag on a human body is approximately seven hundred and eighty times as great in water as in air, swimmers wearing the suits were able to post faster times.
Behind you are swarms of Cariocas, as Rio natives are known: men with phones tucked into the fronts of their bathing suits, swimmers shaking off droplets of water before ordering caipirinhas at an outdoor bar.
Swimmers claim the suits enhance performance, and we should all be grateful for one performance enhancer that does not take the form of illegal steroids or human growth hormones or other exotic substances.
Ms. Kidman, an avid swimmer, forgot the suit at a pool she had reserved for her use in the town of Vanersborg in 2002 while in Sweden to film Lars von Trier's "Dogville".
After 168 world records were broken by competitive swimmers wearing such suits, Fina (Federation Internationale de Natation), the sport's international governing body, banned "non-textile" suits in 2010 for being a technical aid that give competitors an unfair advantage – so-called "technology doping".
